NRA to attend White House meetings on guns

Updated 2:35pm ET: Obama administration officials will meet with the National Rifle Association Thursday, “one of the many” gun-rights advocacy groups that will attend a series of events at the White House, according to White House officials.

The NRA confirms it will attend.

“We got an invite late Friday,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a short statement. “We are sending a representative to hear what they have to say.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney downplayed the meeting, telling reporters that the NRA is just “one of the many” groups that will attend.

We have invited -- or the vice president's group has invited a number of organizations and individuals to participate in meetings," Carney said, adding, "The NRA has certainly been one of the groups, one of the many groups invited."